NEUQUA VALLEY MEN'S CROSS COUNTRYTRACK & FIELD

At the DuPage Valley Outdoor Conference Championships on Friday, it seemed like the deck was stacked against us. In the previous 25 years, only Wheaton North and Wheaton Warrenville South had been team Conference Champions and it looked like it was going to stay that way for this year. With our Prom on the same night, our lineup was missing Seniors in key events and it looked like we were not going to have enough points to pull off a championship. Throw in the forecast of rain and you have a perfect storm. However, one challenge that the coaches made to our team was to simply compete. If we competed to the best of our ability, we could look ourselves in the mirror and know that we had done our best. We did just that. When the final scores were tallied, a weakened Neuqua Valley Varsity team stole the conference title through great efforts and a “never say quit” attitude. The Varsity squad scored 116 points to beat second place Wheaton North by 18. The Frosh-Soph team came in a close 3rd, with Wheaton Warrenville South scoring 109, Wheaton North scoring 105 and Neuqua Valley scoring 102.

Points started to roll in early with the 4 x 800 m relays. Alex Johnson (So.), Dakota Getty (So.), Michael Madiol (Fr.) and Tyler Bombacino (So.) pulled away from the Frosh-Soph competition after two legs and crossed the line in a time of 8:31.32, putting 10 points on the board. The Varsity squad of Aidan Livingston (Sr.), Matt Milostan (Jr.), Josh Mollway (Jr.) and Caleb “Josh” Ferguson (Sr.) put together nearly identical splits to finish first with a time of 8:02.25, which is the fastest time of the season for this event.

The relay success continued with the Varsity 4 x 100 m relay of Myles Gascon (So.), JaQuere Williams (Jr.), Kevin Sager (Sr.) and Ryan Lukas (Sr.). This team put together solid exchanges and a strong finish from Lukas to finish 2nd with a time of 42.58, which is better than the State Qualifying Mark.

The 3200 m would prove our distance depth and post 18 points on the board at both levels. In the Frosh-Soph race, Ryan Kennedy (So.) and Zach Kinne (Fr.) took out the race fast and came through the first mile in 4:44. During the second mile, Kennedy pulled away in the last lap for the win and broke the Frosh-Soph DVC record by nearly 8 seconds with a time of 9:32.94. Kinne would finish second with a time of 9:45.77. Both of these marks are some of the fastest in team history for a Freshman and Sophomore and Kinne was only 5 seconds away from the breaking the conference record himself. At the Varsity level, Patrick Wolak (Sr.) took the lead early in the race and powered through the laps to a Conference Championship with a personal best time of 9:37.85. Dominic Dina (Sr.) held strong in 2nd place until the last lap when two runners passed him. Always being someone to pull through for the team, Dina surged during the last 200 m to recapture 2nd place and the sweep of the 3200 m.

The short sprints would come next with with the 110 m High Hurdles. Donovan Turner (Fr.) took 5th place in his first Frosh-Soph conference meet with a time of 17.60. Look for Donovan to make great progress in this event in the future. With his foot bothering him after the 4 x 100 m, Myles Gascon (So.) pulled through in the Varsity 100 m for 6th place in a time of 11.39 and a point on the board. The sprinters would continue to score points in the Frosh-Soph 4 x 200 m with the team of Kaden Smith (Fr.), Jordan Matthews (Fr.), Jake Priser (Fr.) and Alex Xiong (So.) taking 4th with a season best mark of 1:37.96. Our Varsity 4 x 200 m team was not able to race because we were missing so many athletes from Prom.

The Frosh-Soph 800 m saw the emergence of Danny Winek (So.) as an strong 800 m runner. Breaking the 2:00 barrier with a time of 1:59.71, Danny would easily capture the Conference Championship and be one of our overall fastest 800 m runners in the meet. Dakota Getty (So.) placed 6th with a time of 2:10.20 only a short time after running the 4 x 800 m. Without a seed mark in the Varsity 800 m, Connor Horn (Sr.) would need to push himself in the slow heat and so he did. Horn ran 1:58.47 which was good enough for 2nd place. In the fast heat, Isaiah Robinson (Jr.) ran a very smart first lap to gap the field only to continue to pull away on the second lap for the win in a time of 1:55.07. After the race, Robinson said “I don’t even feel tired.”

The long sprints began with the Frosh-Soph 400 m dash, where Joe Hanneman (So.) took 5th in a personal best time of 53.97. The Varsity level 400 m showed a fast back half race from JaQuere Williams (Jr.) to take 3rd against a strong field in a time of 49.72. Kevin Sager (Sr.) took 6th with a mark of 50.78. In the Frosh-Soph 300 m Intermediate Hurdles, the duo of Michael Dy (So.) and Will Allen (So.) would take 4th place and 5th place respectively with marks of 44.14 and 44.28.

Returning to the distance events with the Frosh-Soph 1600 m, Tyler Bombacino (So.) and Alex Johnson (So.) would return after racing in the 4 x 800 m to double score. Bombacino easily won the race by nearly 9 seconds in 4:35.05 and Johnson would show that he has developed a kick as he battled a group of other runners to take 5th in 4:45.95. Both of these times are personal bests. In the Varsity 1600 m, Connor Horn (Sr.) and Scott Anderson (Jr.) would be challenged by Riley Miller from Waubonsie Valley. Despite a pain in his abdomen and having run the 800 m, Horn would kick in the last 100 m to become Conference Champion in a time of 4:21.81. Anderson would hold a strong 3rd place with a time of 4:22.88. With Horn and Anderson putting 16 more points on the Varsity side, it was becoming obvious that we could win this meet.

The Varsity 200 m dash saw JaQuere Williams completing part 3 of the 4 part “JaQuere Special” where he would run the 4 x 100 m, the 400 m, the 200 m and the 4 x 400 m. JaQuere took 3rd in the 200 m with a time of 22.78. JaQuere’s ability and willingness to run four events for his team in the Conference Meet reminds us of Prince Riley, the only other Neuqua Valley athlete to pull off such a feat.

The running events ended with the 4 x 400 m and with a lack of athletes, we knew that anyone could be put into this relay. At the Frosh-Soph level, we combined sprinters and distance runners to put together the team of Josh Krajcic (So.), Ryan Kennedy (So.), Kaden Smith (Fr.) and Danny Winek (So.). Even after a tough day of competing in the rain, the team took 4th with a season best time of 3:42.42. The Varsity level had a number of athletes getting ready for the race before we finally decided on Isaiah Robison (Jr.), Josh Mollway (Jr.), Kevin Sager (Sr.) and JaQuere Williams (Jr.). Sager was not originally in the lineup but insisted on a chance at redemption after the 200 m. The team ran 3:27.80 for 2nd place and another 8 points.

We had some younger athletes put up some solid marks in the horizontal jumps despite the rain. Ife Oketona (So.) and McKenzie Mitchell (So.) placed 2nd and 3rd in the Frosh-Soph Long Jump with marks of 20’ 9” and 20’ 7.5” respectively. Mitchell would also win the Frosh-Soph Triple Jump with a mark of 43’ 2”. This mark would be the best Neuqua Valley Triple Jump mark of the day and a personal best for Mitchell. Darren Huang (So.) would take 4th in the Frosh-Soph Triple Jump with a personal best mark of 41’ 1.75”. The Varsity Triple Jump would see Fikayo Akinbo (Jr.) and Nicholas Beatty (Jr.) take 2nd and 4th places with marks of 42’ 6.25” and 40’ 9.5” for 12 more Varsity points. Our future in the horizontal jumps is very promising.

The vertical jumps were moved indoors due to the rain and despite some difficulties in the High Jump with running over two different surfaces, our young high jumpers did very well. Ife Oketona (So.) and Sam Rogers (So.) both jumped 5’ 5” in the Frosh-Soph High Jump to take 4th and 6th place respectively. Jared Malcolm (Fr.) was jumping at the Varsity level and while he did not place in a scoring position, he also jumped 5’ 5”, which was a personal best. In the Pole Vault, Ryan Demas (Jr.) jumped 12’ 1”, which was good enough to score in 5th place.

Our throwing twins Tom Cwiok (Sr.) and AJ Cwiok (Sr.) were able to get in their throws between Prom pictures and getting to the dance. Tom took 3rd place in the discus with a throw of 168’ 8” and 5th place in the Shot Put with a throw of 49’ 2.5”. AJ threw 154’ 9” in the discus for 5th place. Together, the Cwiok twins scored as much as a winning an event.

This meet showed that if we are focused, trust the training and just compete, good things can happen. Our team has faced adversities all season and has still come out on top. The same can happen this week at the IHSA Sectional Meet as our athletes try to qualify for the State Meet.